July 04, 2012

Stolen lettering from Wright's Unity Temple re-created, restored

When vandals ripped 56 of the 72 bronze letters from the facade of historic Unity Temple in Oak Park, the church and its preservationists faced a monumental challenge as they set out to re-create a critical feature of the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece.

There was little documentation to indicate what kind of metal was used to form the letters that spelled out "For the Worship of God and the Service of Man" above two entrances. The font was hand-drawn, invented in Wright's studio for the century-old architectural gem. Few archival photos existed to provide reference.

"For both organizations, the letters were so important," said Emily Roth, executive director of Unity Temple Restoration Foundation. "We knew that the building would not be complete without them."

Soon after the September 2010 theft, leaders of the Unitarian Universalist church and the restoration foundation assembled a team of architects, Wright scholars and others to help design precise replicas of the letters and determine how to attach them to the structure.

After extensive research, replicas were crafted and installed in May. As shiny as experts believe the originals looked when the church was dedicated in 1909, the new letters look brighter than the stolen ones, which police say could have been sold for scrap.

Andrzej Dajnowski, director of Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studio in Des Plaines, used the 16 letters left behind as a template. For the missing letters of the alphabet still needed to complete the original phrase, he drew images based on imprints left by the adhesive used to attach the original pieces to the building. He compared his renderings with archival images of the building to gauge their accuracy.

Metallurgists at the Philadelphia Museum of Art analyzed the composition of the metal to help Dajnowski select the golden architectural bronze that matched the originals. Though the remaining letters actually had a brownish-green color, the team determined the metal was initially shiny and had oxidized over the years. Dajnowski worked for three months with his team, cutting and finishing the letters by hand. The letters were then covered with an acrylic coating, which should last about 10 years, Dajnowski said.

The duplicates share the same design, composition and method of fabrication as the originals, according to Roth. They were reinstalled on May 24 using the same holes that held the originals. Each line of letters is flanked on both sides by four small squares, a precursor to the red square that was a trademark of Wright's later work. The entire project cost about $42,000.

"We all felt a sense of joy when it was done," Roth said. "It was important to re-create them so they contained the original magic. It tells us what the purpose of the building is."

Not wanting to risk any further loss, the remaining original artifacts are tucked away for safekeeping. Though the long-awaited project is now complete, the sting of the original crime remains.

"The value of the scrap metal is almost nothing," said restoration architect T. Gunny Harboe. "They only have value if you know they're from Unity Temple, and if you say they're from Unity, people will know that they're stolen."

"The people that stole it made maybe $10 but it cost thousands of dollars to re-create," Dajnowski said.

(Photo courtesy of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation)

Posted at 03:27:07 PM

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